"Up Close & Personal" by Janelle Bowler

Jayes Gallery is pleased to present the photographic images of talented Janelle Bowler in this forthcoming exhibition. Many of the works have been printed as large format giclees on canvas and would make a statement in any home.

Janelle says of her works, "So often when taking pictures I’m asked “Why do you get so close?” 

Such unique perspectives, patterns, even colours come to life when you take a different point of view and go in close on your subject, whether with a camera or whatever media you choose to represent the world through.

Suddenly a plain old leaf lying in a gutter takes on new value and calls for appreciation as intricate details or fascinating forms that you never realised were there, emerge to enlarge your vision and the beauty that lies there unbeknown to the casual observer.  What was just an ordinary scene, becomes extra-ordinary.

The beauty of the camera is that the lens can take you there, right up close where often your eye would or could never venture. The creative work is already done. You however have the great pleasure of revealing it to a world unawares.

Getting up close and personal certainly pays off in the end enriching our lives with the knowledge that beauty really is all around us."

Janelle's work is really perceptive and original so why not come and be inspired!

Barber and Clark at the Gallery for Spring!

 Opening: Saturday 18 September 2010 at 6.30 pm

Jayes Gallery & Sculpture Gardens is delighted to be able to bring you an amazing array of new artworks and sculptures from artists across the Central West and as far as Sydney. 

“The Spirit of Place” by Ada Clarke

Ada Clark will be showing paintings from her recent travels to Central Asia and other exotic locations. Vibrant and clear works that glow with bright colours and free flows of paint, these paintings will transport you away to other places as these works portray “the spirit of place” in Ada’s own individual style. Alongside works from the Australian bush, Ada is presenting these new works for you to view and buy for the first time.

“Les Derniers Coquelicots” by Melissa Barber

Melissa tells us quietly that these are to be her last works on ‘Poppies’. We are amazed and appalled as Melissa’s poppies have been one of our favourite themes over recent years. These are rich gilded works dripping with the ripest of reds, a mass of thick paint and forms, so warm and inviting that you can ‘smell’ the poppies in their fields of glowing colours. So if you want a Melissa Barber Poppy painting, then this is the time to get on out to Jayes. Don’t dilly dally along the way as spring doesn’t last long!

'BURNT HILLS" AND "WILD WOODS' INSPIRE ART!

In an exhibition of works "Burnt Hills", artist Sally Watson brings us a fresh view of her world inspired by burnt hills and the natural world. Watson has a strong sense of line and form and these are works with a 'zen' quality that will hold your attention.

Opening on Saturday, August 21 at 6.30 pm, everyone is invited to attend.

SALLY WATSON'S STATEMENT:

"I have always loved the round hills of the landscapes around Orange. There is something maternal about the roundness and they seem to hold things in place. A daily walk is often a source if inspiration for may drawings, whether it is the shape of a leaf or an abstract idea. In November 20009, there was an out of control grass fir e which burnt out paddocks for kilometres until it was finally extinguished within 500 metres of where I lived. The familiar round hills were blackened and marks with the tracks from the fire trucks and I was reminded of the drawings by Rover Thomas. I was inspired to make a series of drawings based on the burnt hills. The hills are beside the road which I walked for many days and which had served as an inspiration for artworks, From November until January, I created large and small drawings, which were based on those burnt hills and the emotions of anguish and release of fear. I let myself go so I could explore my feelings through the drawings.

This exhibition also includes works from my Organic Abstraction Series. In these drawings I have not been concerned with representing any seen reality. One method I have used is automatism where the act of drawing, painting or writing is based on chance, suppressed consciousness and free associations. The subconscious holds thoughts and feelings, which can be hidden from us. Drawing an be a spontaneous way of letting go of control and allowing the work to emerge. Meditation, Zen and solitude always influence my work.


My arts practice includes keeping a visual journal, the observation of life around me, the inclusion of meditation as a way of becoming conscious of thoughts and feelings, the development of mark making, along with the loosening up and letting go of control in drawing and brushwork. I also make drawings, which are composed entirely of words, which represent a spontaneous flow of my consciousness. To me this is cathartic. The Organic Abstraction Series has nature nature and human emotion as the source for inspiration and also makes the use of gestural drawing and brushwork.


The richest way for me to be with myself is to paint and draw."

JUDY WHITLOCK'S STATEMENT:

"I work on paper in a  variety of media, painting, watercolour landscapes and leaf studies; drawing trees in pen and ink; and printmaking: etchings, mostly of trees, and oil-marbling. I make miniature books and photography is becoming an obsession.


My finished work is studio-based using sketch book drawings and photographs. I visit specific locations to obtain this material; on such trips I tramp around with a pen, sketchbook and camera. Working in pen forces a decision and creates a confidence in line and style. It is a very productive method and I have filled dozens of sketchbooks.

My paintings and etchings all evolve from the sketches. In the studio, (painting or preparing an etching plate) I like to play with composition, quality of light and bring my own atmosphere to a picture.


My tree drawing begin in situ and are finished in the studio. I vary the substrate and style but always there are millions of lines.


I am constantly refining, rethinking; I am always at work."


On inspiration, Judy says "All trees evoke some kind of response in me. They are the quintessential landscape. Many of my specific travel locations are for the trees alone. Some preferred areas are, the Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers, western NSW, that area round Lake mUngo and it' many dry lakes, southern Alaska, and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State USA.


Trees communicate a wealth of information relating to their environment and station in life; eg - White Spruce in southern Alaska are attacked by the brown beetle. This beetle has a degenerative effect and as a consequence, the spruce now stand sad, alone and forlorn.


Leaves are as interesting as their trees; all different and individual. I have vast collections of them, some, years old. They all have a story to tell. 


Some trees even grow on sand hills. Like leaves, who could not love them? - sand hills I mean. They lie waiting to be climbed, drawn and painted. The sun changes their colour; the wind, their shape. Alive, they creep slowly across the land devouring all in their path.


My printmaking specifically etching, is an extension of my drawing - studies perhaps rather than landscape as a whole. I like the atmosphere of a finished print and the whole printing process."


These two women artists both have insights and the love of this land that inspires many artists to express themselves. This is indeed a lovely exhibition with many pieces that will likewise inspire you, the viewer to a new understanding of Australia and the nature of this place.

“Occuló” & "Insomnia" 18 June - 11 July

'Lara Scolari's works in this coming exhibition glow from the walls. They are imbued with hidden meanings and suggested nuances all contained within layer upon layer of soft and subtle shapes, light forms overshadowed with darkness. These works have to be seen, sat with, pondered upon before they give up their meaning. The works contain such depth that they continue to grow and burn themselves into your psyche for a long time. These are not easy works to access but require time and intelligent consideration before the viewer can say comfortably that they understand them.

Scolari herself says of the works "I am intrigued by the complexity, hidden undercurrents and agendas involved in relationships. I relate these layered emotions to the stress of the natural landscape and the surfaces beneath our feet."

"I have expanded and developed my theme/concept and this informs an intimate visual language of organic colour, shape and line. These elements generate a personal response of emotions that are expressed within my work. As if diving beneath the surface (dreaming of what cannot be seen)."

"My work is produced in an Abstract Impressionist style, with focus on the use of line, organic shape, layering and colour. I employ a limited palette of warm earthy tones, punctuated with grey and white."

"I am investigating how visual imagery can translate the complexity of emotions, with a range of visual effects, including translucency and softness - gentle luminosity, quiet understatement (giving clues), subtleness, layering, movement and honesty."

"I attack each work in a vigorous energetic manner. I aim for depth of layers in my work, and build up each layer using a variety of media and experimental methods. I endeavour to give each line or mark vibrancy, energy, motion, mystery and emotion that the viewer can experience. To see or not to see; the artist's dilemma"

"Nurture" by Lara Scolari

In "Insomnia", artist Jocelyn Moles has brought together a number of bright and well crafted images formed through the collage of a variety of mediums. 

Jocelyn says of her work "I work as a mixed media artist, incorporating Photography, pen, paint, print techniques and collage into my work. Over the last few years I have developed an interest in making hand-made books. I love the opportunities it presents to explore themes in one piece of work."

"I like the challenge of creating a work of art through collage. I am especially drawn to recycling words and pictures from other media. The medium itself often manipulates words and pictures, so in turn I like to recycle their words to explore issues in my own artwork. Conscious of copyright, my own photography is incorporated more and more into my works. I love taking photos and digitally changing them to represent something different from the original."

"A lot of research and preparation goes into starting a body of work. I use the internet, library, art galleries and museums to research. In the process, my own knowledge and thought processes are expanded. I document this process in an art journal so that I can refer back as I do to the art pieces."

PRIVATE COLLECTION - opens 16 April

It not every day that we are able to look inside the personal collections of others, or even gain an understanding of what is ‘collectible’ as opposed to ‘desirable’ or even ‘decorative’ in the visual arts.

From April 16, a country gallery is exhibiting for the first time, a collection of works that can only be described as ‘highly collectible’. These works have been drawn from the private collections of some of the gallery’s client base and have not been exhibited publicly before. Many of the works are over 100 years old and show the technique of previous masters of painting. We can see the delicate brushstrokes of John Absolon (1815-1895), a British Watercolourist whose painting would have made it to his family in Western Australia in the late 1800’s,  and finally into a private collection on the east coast of Australia. His son, John de Mansfield Absolon was also a watercolourist who spent his time between England and Australia and managed his family’s mining interests.

An early aboriginal painting by Desmond Ebatarinja (1956-2004) of the Hermannsburg School from Central Australia who painted around Central Australia and the desert is featured in the collection.

Another delightful work is a fine example of Ukiyo-e featuring a landscape created from woodblocks around the 1850’s. These works are rare outside of Japan and feature works from the famous school on delicate papers.

For those wanting to get into the collectible market at an affordable price, there are a range of John Sands early maps framed and ready to hang. The maps are from his early book of maps of New South Wales, first edition in 1886.

Alongside these rare works, the gallery is exhibiting a number of today’s artists that are considered to be of increasing value. Works by Greg Hyde, Joy Engelman, Brett Garling to name a few as well as an amazing sculpture by Tim Kyle . Kyle won the Wynne Prize in 2003 for his “Seated Figure” and Jayes has a strong work by Kyle in “Standing Man” in a similar vein.

This is a show not to be missed and will be out at Molong in central NSW from April 16 through to May10. Opening night Friday 16 April at 6.30.